Tax cap question heads to court

Republican Party of Alaska Chairman Randy Ruedrich has admitted to three primary ethics violations and paid $12,000 in fines in an ethics complaint settlement agreement wrapped up this week with the Department of Law.

In a settlement signed by Ruedrich in Anchorage Tuesday, the former Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner admitted to using state facilities and equipment for partisan political activity while serving as a commissioner, sometimes during normal work hours during which he did not take leave. He also admitted forwarding a confidential e-mail and an attachment received from an assistant attorney general to a third party, namely Kyle Parker, a lobbyist for Evergreen Resources Inc. Also as part of the settlement, state officials agreed Ruedrich had not used his status as a public official to raise funds for any partisan purpose.

On Nov. 4, Chief Assistant Attorney General Barbara Ritchie and her staff began investigating complaints filed by Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission staff, through former AOGCC Commissioner Sarah Palin, that Ruedrich was using his office -- and office time -- inappropriately.

The 16-page list of complaints filed by the state in February claims Ruedrich used his office to conduct party business on his cell phone, used his state e-mail account for similar purposes and claims he was friendly with Kyle Parker, a lobbyist for Evergreen Resources Inc., to the point that Ruedrich forwarded to Parker a confidential e-mail and attachment related to coal-bed methane production in the Valley.

Four days after the investigation began, Ruedrich resigned from the commission, although accounts differ as to whether he resigned on his own or was asked to do so by Gov. Frank Murkowski. When the complaints were filed Feb. 27, Ruedrich denied them, and on April 12, he filed an answer -- putting his denial on paper and requesting that the state drop the complaints. The state, on May 3, refused to do so, and Ruedrich requested a settlement meeting, held Tuesday.

For his admissions, Ruedrich paid $12,000, agreed not to accept a position with the state as long as he holds an office in a political party or group, and agreed not to sue the state or any current or former employees related to his AOGCC office or to the Ethics Act investigation and proceedings.

"I paid $7,000 on two counts that I think materially overstated anything about the matter, however, to go to a formal hearing would have been a $50- to $100,000-cost," Ruedrich said. "I figured the best thing to do is to do this -- compared to proving the point, it's a trivial amount of money."

Ruedrich said he agreed that forwarding the confidential memo was wrong, and he said the $5,000 fine related to that charge was fair, although he said he was surprised he didn't hear more about it at the time it happened.

"In some of the stuff that surfaced later, they said they saw this happen, but no one mentioned it to me for at least 60 days," Ruedrich said.

The settlement, Ritchie said, appears to be the largest in state history related to the Ethics Act, which was enacted in 1986. She said when she and Department of Law staff found violations, she had two primary goals -- to get Ruedrich to admit to wrongdoing, and to pursue substantial fines. Each of the four ethics violations found by the department could have resulted in maximum fines of $5,000 each. Two of the fines were levied at the maximum amount, and Ritchie said she reduced the fine in the third count to $2,000 because the charge was related to other charges. The state dropped a fourth charge that Ruedrich carried out service to the Republican Party in a manner inconsistent with his duties as a state supervisor.

"If that were all one had, I think typically, that would have been handled not as a fine, but by counseling or instructing the employee not to do that," Ritchie said.

Ritchie said she believes the settlement is both fair and precedent-setting; that it will serve as a deterrant to others who may shrug off the consequences of violating ethics laws.

"I think $12,000 is a good settlement in this case, in the context of $20,000 being the maximum," Ritchie said. "This case [had it gone to litigation] would have cost the state a lot of money."

Just the investigation, Ritchie said, cost more than $80,000 just for Assistant Attorney General Paul Lyle's contribution. Lyle coordinated the investigation and laid much of the groundwork in the case.

Ritchie said the settlement shuts the door on the state's relationship with Ruedrich. After his appointment in February 2003 by Gov. Frank Murkowski, he served eight months in a seat that paid $118,000 per year. Although Ruedrich may have contributed to a retirement account, state employees must work 10 years before they're vested, so benefits relating to his employment are minimal.

With the settlement paid, the ethics investigation launched in November by Palin is closed, but Palin said she believes there's a lot more to be done to restore the faith of Alaskans in both the AOGCC and the state Republican Party. She said she and AOGCC staff members sought, earlier in the year, to run an opinion piece discussing the work AOGCC members do, and to confirm their commitment to fairness between industry officials and Alaskans, but was told by Administration Commissioner Jim Clark to pull the opinion piece before it ran.

"One regret that I have is that we didn't have that printed," Palin said. "It would have clarified what AOGCC's role is. I intend to do whatever I can assist them [AOGCC staff] on this mission they have to be on, to build back that credibility. The commission can not afford to have that impinged reputation … and I hear it to this day -- that because of Randy's actions, people are hesitant to trust AOGCC. I would think that should concern the governor also, and that he would help rebuild that trust."

Palin said she was disappointed to see Murkowski -- and Republican Party of Alaska leaders -- embracing Ruedrich in this time. She said when the party's central committee, at its convention recently, gave Ruedrich a vote of confidence, some of those votes came with conditions. Some central committee members, Palin said, indicated their confidence was based on trust that Ruedrich, if he was found to have misused his office, would step down. As yet, there's been no clamor for Ruedrich's resignation after he admitted to wrongdoing.

"Nobody seems to want to do anything about it because they point to Ruedrich's ability to strategize and fundraise," Palin said. "I don't agree with people who say 'No harm, no foul, he paid his fine and it's over.'"

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.